2016 is almost upon us and, although New Year’s resolutions are dumb, making a business plan isn’t. So I made one. “But you’re a writer, Graham, not a businessman!” I hear you all cry. So true. So true. So what do I need a business plan for?

The answer is simple. To sell books.

Let me take a step back.

When I started writing I had a vague notion that, one day, I’d be published. By a publisher, that is. It sort of worked out that way. I published lots of non-fiction (with big-name publishers, like Macmillan, Hachette and Hutchinson) and, eventually, even started having fiction published.

But I never really made any sales until I self-published my novel, Timesplash. It was a weird fluke and the book’s success could not have happened at a worse time because all the other novels I had complete and ready to go, were out with publishers being considered. I had lots of interest and it seemed like I was going to break out.

But the Timesplash sales gradually petered out (they do that) and because the publishers were all still thinking about it (some for months, some for years) there was no follow-up. One by one, those publishers all said no (apart from one which seemed so taken with the success of Timesplash that they took it on and published it and then published two sequels) and I found myself back at square one with a pile of manuscripts and a fading memory of success.

I  was pretty fed up with being dangled on a string by publishers, so I began self-publishing my books.

It was pretty disappointing. I made some sales but never did repeat the big success Timesplash had enjoyed. I also discovered that, in self-publishing, your books succeed in proportion to the amount of (savvy) marketing you do. This was such a terrible discovery that I gave up marketing altogether and went back to just writing my books and putting them out there. It was terrible because I hate marketing with a passion and could not bear the thought of having to do it forever.

I have a small but loyal readership and, for a while, it was good enough to know that this tiny band of wonderful people really appreciated what I was doing. But during 2015, I grew increasingly frustrated that more people were not reading my books. I’d see some magazine announce the “best sci-fi novels of the year” and I’d find myself shouting at the screen, “How do you know? I published novels this year and you didn’t even read one of them? In what sense are you able to say some other book is the best? Because a Big 5 publisher sent it to you to read? Because it was recommended to you by some other guy who was sent a copy by a publisher? In fact, how many sci-fi books out of the thousands that were published this year did you read? Twenty? Thirty?”

That kind of thing.

Silly, of course. If you aren’t actually playing the game, how can you possibly hope to win? But I’ve always eschewed games. Most in the real world are so corrupt, the very thought of joining in makes you feel dirty. Look at World Cup soccer, or cycling… Anything that involves money eventually becomes corrupt and dirty. Do you know you can buy Amazon book reviews? Makes you shudder with disgust, doesn’t it? It does me.

Still, I’d like more people to read what I write. So I’m going to have to do something.

If self-publishing has taught me anything, it is that publishing is a commodity market with very, very little product differentiation. That’s why advertising and marketing are so necessary. The makers of washing powders, fizzy drinks, breakfast cereals, and so on, need to bombard us constantly with advertising that depends on vague emotional association (this brand is for strong men, this brand is trustworthy, this brand is young and exciting, etc.) in order to create any differentiation at all because there is almost no difference between the actual products.

Now, I’m not saying there is no difference between good and bad books. I think there’s a huge difference. But, either most people can’t see it, or there is so much variation in individual taste that personal judgements that are diametrically opposed, all average out to create no overall difference. In such a market, only brand awareness matters. People don’t read the top-selling crime writers because they are the best writers in the world but because they are the best known. Omo is no better than a hundred other washing powders but hardly any other powder gets a look in.

Thus, writing better books has, at best, a marginal effect on sales performance. Being a better marketer has a major effect.

The secret to being a successful self-published author is to write reasonably well and become a smart, driven, hard-working publisher.

Well, that just isn’t going to happen for me. I work hard at being a better writer, but I just don’t have the motivation to put that much effort into being a great publisher.

And here we are, back at my 2016 business plan. And the plan is to do a few, highly-targeted things that I know will help sales but which aren’t too time and effort consuming. It’s the best I can do and, without the plan, I’d probably let even that little slide. So wish me luck.

Oh, yes. And buy my books.